Strom Thurmond was a controversial US senator who supported segregation and Jim Crow laws. After his death, his mixed-race daughter revealed her identity. Thurmond served in the Senate for over 41 years, changing his stance on racial integration as he aged. He remains a divisive figure, with some seeing him as a product of his time and others condemning his discrimination.
Strom Thurmond, born in 1902, is a deeply controversial character, a longtime supporter of segregation on the basis of the rights of states and one of the longest-serving members of the United States Senate, surpassed only by Senator Byrd. People didn’t know how deep his hypocrisy ran about race until after his death in 2003, when his mixed-race, illegitimate daughter, Bessie May Washington-Williams, revealed that she was actually Thurmond’s daughter. .
Out of respect for his father, Washington-Williams had never sought to make this information public during Thurmond’s lifetime, and received financial support from him. However, he advocated the very things, like segregation and Jim Crow laws, that were designed to oppress and denigrate the African American race. She later advocated for desegregation in the South in the 1970s, but this retraction came somewhat late, when Washington-Williams was already in her mid-40s.
Strom Thurmond’s early career included his attendance at Clemson College and his admission to the South Carolina Bar in 1930. He served as a county attorney and became active in the Army, enlisting in 1924 as a reserve man. A short stint in the South Carolina Senate was followed by Thurmond’s election as a judge. During World War II, he actively served in the United States Army and received numerous decorations, including the Purple Heart. Returning home a decorated veteran boosted his popularity in his home state. South Carolina elected him governor in 1946, where he increasingly supported his state’s right to maintain segregation.
Strom Thurmond made only one bid for president, running on a third-party ticket in 1948. This bid was unsuccessful, and in a 1950 run for U.S. Senator he was also defeated. 1954 brought better luck to the aspiring Senator, and he remains the only Senator to have been elected on write-in ballots. As politics changed and the Democratic Party became more associated with liberal politics and civil rights, Strom Thurmond also changed his allegiance, becoming a Republican in 1964. He served in the Senate for just over 41 years, finally ending his political career in 2002, at the age of 100.
Strom Thurmond’s Senate career represents changes in attitudes as he aged. Lui hired black staffers and became among the first Southern senators to fully support racial integration in the 1970s. However, he didn’t spend much time apologizing for his former position, but did vote on some important civil rights or related issues, such as supporting the bid to make Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday and extending of the Voting Rights Act, which had banned the application of unfair standards to black voters by requiring them to pass a literacy test. Some critics suggest that younger staffers suggested he change his policy to remain a power in the US government. It is difficult to assess the sincerity of his conversion.
To many, Strom Thurmond is seen as a product of the age and climate in which he grew up. However, as the nation moved toward more accepting policies, he remained steadfast in his discrimination. Also, praising the man today definitely gets people into trouble. At Thurmond’s 100th birthday celebration, Senator Trent Lott praised Thurmond’s bid for the presidency. Lott was so criticized for praising the tactics of a known separatist that he was forced to resign his post as Senate minority leader.
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